


Whiskey, Puppy, and the no-eared dog.

by PepperCat



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Animal Abuse, Axel is proactively solving problems that haven't happened yet, Character Study, Cigarettes, Gen, Pit Bull, Possibly Dark, Projection, Shopping, Violence, mentioned animal death, not relationship-focussed, puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 13:51:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10900671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperCat/pseuds/PepperCat
Summary: In which Axelfindsmakes a reason to care about a dog.





	Whiskey, Puppy, and the no-eared dog.

There aren't any rules about Axel _not_ going to Galioto's liquor store, but whenever Aliane's on the cash there she looks like she's just _waiting_ for an excuse to break something out from under the counter. And if he's in there with Piper and says anything she looks at Piper after everything he says, like she wants to check that he's telling the truth.

Axel thinks she's pretty sensible compared to a lot of people, who tend to relax when they get used to him. But he figures telling her that won't exactly warm her up, and he mostly puts in a little effort to avoid the place. It's not like there's a shortage of places to pick up booze in the neighbourhood, you're willing to walk a little ways.

That said, Piper doesn't avoid the place, and it's poker night, and it's Piper's turn to pick up drinks. That means Axel is coming along to help him carry stuff. Aliane is in an especially sour mood, and Axel just raises his hands and steps back as soon as she spots him, then starts edging away until he can cut down one of the aisles and get out of her line of sight. Piper's doing the shopping, anyway.

He skirts a bunch of kids who are gonna get carded that are hanging out around the local brewery specials, edges past the old couple looking at the snack display at the end of the aisle, sees a couple of guys maybe a little younger than him laughing over the cheap whiskies. One of them's holding a bottle of stuff that Axel can privately attest tastes great after the fourth drink, and the other's got a little dog in his arms.

It's a shorthaired grey dog with a broad blunt head. It's whining, and its pupils are _huge_ , and its ears aren't there. The spots where they should be are just raw pink crescents, crossed with heavy black stitches.

Axel doesn't know any more than the next guy about dogs, but he's seen grown ones and he's pretty sure this one is still a puppy.

Also he's seen dogs like that one after the ears--not-ears--heal up.

The guy holding has noticed Axel looking at him and Axel smiles. "He looks like he'll be a good one."

"Yeah." The guy smiles. "He's gonna do great."

"You keep a lot of dogs?"

"We're getting him for a friend." The guy looks like he's going to add something, then maybe parses that Axel's smile isn't exactly warm and turns away like he isn't interested in talking, looks pointedly at the shelves. Axel ignores it and moves closer. Keeps his smile open and tilts his head a little to one side.

"Didn't know it was worth it to have a dog like him around here," he says. "So, are you guys--"

"Hey," the guy holding the whiskey says, "back off. You mind?" And he gives Axel a look that might be scary if Axel hadn't ever had to deal with anything worse than a parking lot shoving match. But the last time he caused a ruckus in here _everyone_ got pissed at him, and that was an everyone that included Cold and Piper, so no repeats.

He holds up his hands and offers up a bunch of make-noise _sorry_ s and backs off. The dog keeps whining--a real soft sound, 'cause it's confused and stoned and probably in pain all at once--but once Axel's ducked into the next aisle over and is headed back up towards the counter, he can't hear it. He wonders how the hell Piper hasn't already come to find out what's wrong, but Piper's the kind of guy who'd look at this and maybe just see a pet owner that didn't want to let go of his dog.

He tries to imagine not being able to _not_ hear that noise and knowing what it meant, and that gets into imagining other noises, and he just shakes it out of his head. Piper'd be so pissed. Guy doesn't need that stress.

Piper and Aliane are at the counter, talking in something that can't be Spanish because Piper knows Spanish and doesn't stumble over it this way. Axel tugs at Piper's sleeve, quick and light, glancing back. There's only so long a couple of guys can spend looking at cheap booze.

"Piper." Aliane doesn't say anything about him interrupting but the look she gives him is caustic as hell. He ignores it. "You like dogs? Not as much, right, but--"

"What?" Piper's blinking like it's not a perfectly simple question. He's a smart guy, but Axel thinks his focus gets a bit narrow sometimes.

"It's not just rats," Axel says patiently. "You wouldn't want someone to hurt a dog. Right?"

"Wh-- no, of course not. Axel, what're you--"

"Okay." He puts his arm around Piper's shoulder and looks at Aliane. He's starting to grin. "Those guys-- the ones who came in with the dog. They're not local?"

She looks at Piper first, _of course_ , and then back at him. "I've never seen them in here before." And then looks at Piper again and adds "I don't think so."

"Okay." Axel's rising up on his toes, glancing out past the shelves to what he can see of the sidewalk. "Pipes, I'll be outside. Take your time. Yell if you need me." He squeezes Piper's shoulder once, and pushes past him and out the door.

It's a nice summer almost-evening, warm clear air and even a hole-in-the-wall Keystone liquor store doesn't look too bad. There's parking spots out front, but most people use the empty lot on the next block.

There is a car there, though. An old brick-red thing with rust chewing a hole along the undercarriage, and it's got Kentucky plates. Axel puts an arm against one of the windows, blocking the sunset glare, and sees fast food wrappers, a couple of towels spread over the back seat, a store-new leash that's still wrapped around white cardboard.

Pretty good odds. If he's wrong they'll come out the front door anyway.

He glances at Galioto's and goes round to the front of the car, hops up onto the hood and rests his heels on the bumper. The hood's still a little warm and the air's got that fresh smell of night coming on. It's just starting to turn into that sweet blurry time of evening where every headlight and streetlight looks extra crisp. Piper told him once it's called _l'heure bleue_.

Axel lights a cigarette and waits.

The guys come outside. One of them's still holding the puppy; the other's carrying a bag with (probably) whiskey and they're both looking at something on Whiskey's phone. Then the one with the dog notices him, and when he stops Whiskey looks up, and this gets Axel the attention he was hoping for.

"Fucker," the one with the dog says, but kind of soft, like he's making a statement of fact and isn't willing to commit to actually insulting Axel yet. Axel grins and lets out a soft little cackle. Whiskey's put his phone away and is stepping up. He's got one hand fisted around the neck of the bottle inside the bag. Axel's been hit with bottles before; they don't break as often as you'd think, but it still sucks.

"Get the hell off my _car_."

Axel nods like that's a perfectly reasonable request and smiles. "Give me your dog."

"I'm not giving you-- fuck off!"

Axel's grin widens and he rolls his head, feeling his neck crack a little. "There's a guy inside," he says, laughing a little. "He likes dogs." Well. Enough. "Doesn't like dog fights. Give me your dog or I'll take him."

"We're not gonna _hurt_ him," the one holding the dog says. Axel names him _Puppy_ , mentally--the guy, not the dog--and looks back at Whiskey.

"He sounds like he believes it," he says cheerfully. "He ever been to a dog fight?" He flicks the cigarette ash across the hood of the car and they both tense up a little--Whiskey leaning forward, Puppy holding the dog up like it's a shield. "Have you?"

Puppy is swallowing. "He's gonna be a working dog."

"Yeah?" Axel's still smiling. "Great job you're getting him."

Whiskey steps forward, hand fisted around the neck of the bottle inside the bag. "Get the fuck off my car, you freak."

Axel cackles again, straightens up, and then braces one foot on the bumper and steps up and back so he's standing on the hood of the car. The hood makes a hollow _ponk_ ing noise and bows under his weight.

Whiskey charges and he's swinging the bottle at Axel's leg, but he's not really aiming and Axel jumps back, grabs Whiskey's shirt-shoulder when the guy leans forward with the swing, puts his cigarette out in the middle of the guy's back.

Whole lot of yelling.

He gets dragged off the hood but he kind of expected that, kicks loose and gets up to his feet with his hands scraped raw and one knee throbbing. Whiskey swings at him again, overhand this time and Axel gets inside it, gets his shoulder into Whiskey's gut and knocks him over. Graceless scrabble to get on top of him as the guy's punching up, grit digging into his hands as he makes a fist returns the favour. Puppy tries to kick him and it glances off his shoulder, and two on one was really not a good plan, so frankly he's lucky that Puppy honestly fights as badly as someone might expect Piper to.

He gets up, stands on Whiskey's chest as he does. Puppy's backing away, still holding the dog. Axel's nose is bleeding and he snorts, wipes it away; the sticky iron smear clings to his fingers.

Puppy holds the dog out, straight at arm's length. "Take him!" he says, and then something that sounds like _jeez_ or _please_. The dog's eyes are wide and dark and he's kicking all slow and dreamy, like he can't remember if there's supposed to be something under his feet but he thought there was and now he can't find it. His whimpering gets a little louder.

Axel steps closer and punches Puppy in the face.

The solid jolt of a good hit runs up his knuckles, makes his hand shiver in recognition; he feels Puppy's nose give way in a wet bursting crunch. The guy screams, but it's bubbly, and drops the dog.

The dog hits the sidewalk and lets out a confused yelping sound, like he wants to ask for help and doesn't know how. _Mom? Is this thing on?_

Axel sees red.

He's landing his second kick in Puppy's side when he someone grabs his arm and he's whipping around to deal with _that_ when the guy says his name and ducks under his fist and he realizes maybe he doesn't want to hit Piper. He holds up both hands and sneezes instead, because when you're not distracted by trying to kick the shit out of a couple of lowlifes, a bleeding nose tickles like hell.

"Axel," Piper says again, irritated enough to snap but words still precisely distinct, "what the _hell_ are you doing?"

"Like you wanted," Axel says, gesturing to the guys on the ground. And the puppy. He can't tell if it's hurt or just stoned; it looks like it's trying to stand up but it's sitting kind of sideways on its haunches, and one of its back legs is pedalling at the sidewalk, kind of slow and dreamy.

Piper does that thing where he shoves his glasses up and looks like he's trying to squeeze the corners of his eyes hard enough to shove all the exasperation out.

"Like _I_ wanted?"

"You don't like dogs hurt."

Piper stares at him. Axel's pretty sure he isn't getting it.

"He was for dogfighting," Axel says. He bends over and picks up the dog and nothing's dangling funny and he's not seeing any blood or bruises. Okay. He isn't quite sure how to hold it, but he tries tucking its back feet in the crook of one arm and gets his other hand under its chest. It's warm and heavy and still whining gently, pupils huge and dark. "That's why they cut off his ears. Battle crop, see." He holds the dog towards Piper. "So the other dogs can't grab on and rip."

Piper's doing that glass-still thing he does sometimes, and Axel can't read him except to tell that he's upset, which might be okay if Axel could be sure who he's upset _at_. He's suddenly vaguely worried about Piper growing up rich and... fox hunts or some shit, some crazy reason Piper would think it wasn't a big deal, he doesn't know, he just isn't sure anymore. He hates it when he needs to know something and can't tell.

Aliane is standing in the doorway of the store, looking grim, and that's not helping. Last time he upset her and Piper here Cold got angry and he _knows_ this is different, but he still finds himself swallowing, holding the dog a little closer. "You _said_ you didn't like dogs getting hurt."

"I did say that," Piper says after a moment. His voice is distant and precise, but it doesn't have the snap that he puts in it when he wants someone to know he's pissed. Axel relaxes a little. The dog is a warm heavy lump in his arms.

"'kay. Well, he's hurt. And they were _going_ to hurt him. I guess they think he's worth something, don't know if they paid for him or took him in trade, but even if he's a good fighter, he'd get hurt." Axel puts the dog down on the hood of the car. "He'd _really_ get hurt, and before that he'd hurt a lot of others. You'd hate that. And he..." Axel waves vaguely at the dog, who's still making that crying noise, soft and high and scared.

"He's not wrong," Aliane says from the doorway. Piper looks back at her, still with that glass poise. Axel'd smile at her, but she's busy glaring at the guys still on the sidewalk.

Puppy is not-crying. Whiskey is starting to stagger to his hands and knees. Axel steps over and shoves him back onto his back, puts one foot on his throat.

"Alright," Piper says with his hands on his face like his head's hurting. "Alright. The two of you-- get out of here."

Whiskey coughs and clears his throat. Axel lifts his foot up a little, since Piper looks like he might want to hear what the guy has to say.

"That's our dog--"

" _You_ _get out of_ _my sight_ _or you find out what it_ _means_ _to cross_ _a_ _Rogue_ _in Central City_ _._ "

And he's doing that thing with his voice that makes even Axel want to back off a bit, and maybe they _could_ argue but they don't. Whiskey gets up and looks like he's going to say something and then just helps Puppy to his feet.

Axel was kind of hoping they'd try and get past him to the car but he guesses they figure they can come back for it later.

"Fantastic," Piper says once they're alone on the sidewalk. "I'm fairly sure you've just committed a felony in the name of rescue-stealing a small dog, Axel. What exactly was your plan for how to proceed from here?"

"Misdemeanour," Axel corrects. Well, for him _probably_ a felony because they get sticky about that repeat offense stuff on assault, but he wants Piper to relax. "And he's not small, he's just a puppy." The dog is casting around on the hood of the car, eyes wide and head wobbly. "Bring him home, come back later for the booze."

"No we can't--" Piper darts past Axel, grabs for the dog as it starts sliding slowly off towards the front of the hood, scrabbling uselessly. He picks it up kind-of but not quite like Axel did, different support under the legs. "We can't keep him, Axel."

"Why not?"

"Because he's a puppy," Piper says, and his voice is almost gentle. "Training him is work, and I don't know that either of us know how to do it. And because I suspect we'll find he has some terrier in him. I'm not letting _anything_ with a rat-hunting lineage live in the house, Axel."

"Right," Axel says. He opens his mouth to add something, but when it comes to Piper and his rats there's not a lot to be said, and he just ends up shrugging instead. It sucks. He was-- he wasn't having _fun_ , exactly, but he was putting in some decent effort, trying to save the stupid dog because Piper would have been upset if he didn't, and now he's just getting nothing back and he's starting to notice the bruises and his nose is stinging and it's getting dark and they _still_ need to get stuff for poker night and he's about done.

He wipes at his face again, manages to smear some of the blood off and wrinkles his nose at the feel of the clotting outlines left behind. "Right, okay. But we can't just _leave_ him." It's a stoned puppy. If it doesn't get run over or eaten by a raccoon then the Kentucky jackasses will probably find it when they come back for their car.

He's _been_ to dogfights. He had to go to a couple when he was a kid, because Denny's uncle was working with some guy who was calling the shots and liked meeting there. No-one made Axel watch except once and mostly there was just yelling and snarling and barking in the background, but the last time he'd been there he'd been running on less than no sleep and everything was a little too bright and he'd for-real thought someone was fucking with fence hinges or something because he hadn't known dogs could scream like that.

He'd started laughing and couldn't stop and that was when the guy quit insisting they meet there. Even Denny's uncle had looked glad about that.

"No." Piper's looking thoughtfully down at the little grey bundle. It's still crying a little, and he's got that glass-vase poise again, but Axel's sure Piper isn't mad at him. "No, of course not. We'll get him to the vet at least, and make sure that his-- ear-stumps are being taken care of properly. And we'll figure it out from there." Piper looks up and he probably didn't _miss_ the blood on Axel's face before, but it looks like he's at least paying attention to it now. "Are _you_ alright?"

Axel wipes at the blood on his face again. "Yeah."

"Really?" Piper's frowning up at him. "Honestly, Axel, could you stop picking fights where you're noticeably outnumbered? For my peace of mind?"

Axel grins. "It's not that bad." It isn't. Few scrapes, like only Piper'd worry about. But he lets Piper grumble over him for a minute. It's a normal kind of thing, and that's nice for a minute before they go deal with the dog.

* * *

The vet is _furious_.

(Not at them. The vet is very used to Piper by now, too, so they don't get reported on suspicion of animal cruelty.)

The dog cries for two days, because there is only so much you can dope up a puppy and have it be safe, but he lets the vet and Axel pet him, and he sleeps sometimes. His head is a funny shape without the ears, a round blunt silhouette. Axel kind of hopes that whoever ends up with him will call him Bullet.

He's not naming the dog _himself_. That'd be silly when he isn't getting to keep him.

And anyway, he mostly did it for Piper, because Piper would have been upset if the dog got hurt. It doesn't matter that Piper didn't know what the ear-cropping meant and hadn't even seen the dog yet; he keeps saying that ignorance of a situation doesn't change its effect. He _would_ have been upset, so Axel stopped it.

In the end, the Galiotos take the dog. Axel starts tagging along a little more when Piper goes by there.

Aliane's still not happy about it, but Bullet seems to like him. He figures that counts for something.  


  


**Author's Note:**

> Not a lot to say about this one, except that I spent a lot longer than you'd think putting it off by looking up Missouri laws on what constitutes assault, and waffling back and forth about whether I should use the as-of-2017 definitions or the to-the-end-of-2016 definitions and deciding to go with the latter.
> 
> Also that this is the second work I've posted that references a WIP which occurred earlier in an internal chronological sense but hasn't been posted yet. I hope to get it up soon. Ish. Soonish.
> 
> Also-also that I once saw someone carrying a pit bull puppy in this condition in a liquor store. I couldn't do anything then. I don't know what happened to that one. I gave this one a happy ending.


End file.
